For almost a year now, I’ve been watching some of the conversation on the eLetters blog, seen the way you all passionately debate and explore issues that are important to our Denver community, Colorado and the nation. These discussions can be fruitful and involve legitimate debate. And as expected when controversial issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, taxes, the President of the United States and the federal government are involved, these discussions can get heated.

That’s OK, and we appreciate your desire to come back to continue to engage with one another. But we want that discussion to be civil. And I think it can be with some effort on the parts of all posters here.

In recent weeks, attacks of a personal nature have dominated the conversation. Because Denver Post online staffers can not possibly read each comment posted here (or elsewhere on the site for that matter), we rely on our community to largely policy itself and flag the comments that may break one of our ground rules.

The blog and the comments section should be a place where ideas can be exchanged and openly debated, but, yes, that comes with limits and rules. Otherwise, comments and discussion becomes a cesspool of anger, hate, racism and acid-tongued personal attacks.

Guidelines: The Post welcomes letters up to 150 words on topics of general interest. Letters must include full name, home address, day and evening phone numbers, and may be edited for length, grammar and accuracy.

To reach the Denver Post editorial page by phone: 303-954-1331

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